Turns Out, You Can Go Home Again

During a month of being "between homes," we were very, very lucky to have a warm and welcoming place to land - my mom's (aka Grandma Bonnie's). This is the only house I ever lived in until I left for college at 18. We parked here for an extended visit once before, when we were remodeling our kitchen three years ago, but this time was a bit more of a challenge since we had to stash all our belongings and we had TWO kids in tow.

Holden and Riley always have a good time visiting Grandma Bonnie and, since they spend more nights there than we normally do, they felt right at home. They know where she keeps the toys and snacks, and that's all they really care about! They like hanging there - lots of floor and table space to play, plus the prospect of THREE bathrooms in which to do their business. They made themselves right at home:

Of course, having Grandma Bonnie around to help with the kiddos (and sometimes babysit, too!) was a real treat for us all. Riley is still in his mommy clinging phase, but Holden often asked if Grandma Bonnie would read to him before bed:
When we last stayed, Holden was all about Grandma Bonnie's costume jewelry stash. Riley found lots of joy in jangling around the house, looking like Mr. T:
Grandma Bonnie's floor often got quite, quite messy - but she graciously didn't seem to mind:
As always, there were some tears:
But Holden used the Tinker Toys to really hone is spaceship building skillz:
Sometimes, we had to rescue Riley:
While they played, I played with my camera and worked on upcoming photography class assignments. I turned this one in for my Composition Class:
Lots of floor space for trains:

We even had a dog to play with. Mo lives next door and always greeted us as we came and went. We could wrestle a ball or rope away from him through the gate and play fetch:

Watching the boys scooter around on the driveway and backyard brought back so many childhood memories of Janeen and I, and friends from the neighborhood, doing the same on our roller skates. Sometimes, we made elaborate chalk tracks to skate in.


Mo has a little brother, Joey, who arrived while we were living there:
The thing that kept striking me while living at my mom's for a month was that - no matter how much things change, so many things stay the same. Kevin and I lived in my old room, which my sister had transformed while she lived there for a while - replacing my old white heart day bed with a queen-sized bed. But laying there in the dark just after turning off the light, I could still see faint greenish glows from the mass of glow-in-the dark star stickers I affixed to the cottage-cheese covered ceiling about 25 years ago. I'd always giggle at how they were amassed in one area of the ceiling only - the area I could reach by jumping from my bed.

As I looked around, I recognized art on the walls that I can remember my father hanging or selecting, cookie sheets I used decades ago to make chocolate chip cookies (when the dough actually made it to the oven), half-filled liquor bottles in the bar that may or may not have some water in them and a big box of individually-wrapped drinking straws stashed in the closet under the stairs that my mother bought at Smart and Final probably when I was in high school.

Thanks mom, for opening up the doors to Bonnie's Bed and Breakfast for an extended stay!

The Next Time I Move, It Will Be in a Body Bag

I can't say all the boxes are unpacked, or that any pictures or hung, or that we have coverings on all the windows, or that everything is where it belongs ... but I can say we are living in our digs, and diggin' 'em so far.

Here's a tour for you.

Holden and Riley like to hang out by Holden's bookshelf and "read:"

This is what it looked like just before the movers arrived:
This is what it looked like just after the movers left:
We celebrated our first family meal at our new house with some delivered pizza:

The celebration continued with chocolate cupcakes:

The first bath in the new monkey bathroom bathtub was a success:

It wasn't long before the kitchen was functioning, and I was cooking:

We still have very few neighbors, which has made playtime in the complex fun and safe:

Lots of floor space to play in the boys' rooms - where ALL of their toys now live:

Yes, they're here too. Ally didn't take long to find the hot spots:

It also doesn't take long for all that floor space to become covered:

We had some visitors:

The kids are enjoying eating at the counter. So far, Riley's only fallen off the bar stool once:

The toys may live upstairs, but they certainly come downstairs to visit often. The kids still tend to play near wherever we are:

Holden's room is a fun hang out, since it has a view of the trains:

Riley's room, clean:

His crib, with its recently removed side (more on that later):

My safe haven:

The grown-up room:

Hurry Hurry Drive the Fire Truck Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding

Despite all the craziness, we still found lots of great distractions to keep the kids happy ... and us sane. An annual favorite with our brood is Fire Safety Day where fire stations open their doors to the public. Talk about free, great fun!

We descended on the friendly El Segundo Fire Department, who carried on despite some of their resources being in Santa Barbara at the time to fight the wildfires that were ranging then.


Holden demonstrating Stop, Drop and Roll:



Over at the police station, we got the kids fingerprinted. We told them this is the last time cops better be taking their prints. Doubt it will be.

Good-bye to Chadron

We've actually been gone for nearly two months now, but it's still weird to look back at our old house and remember "the lasts." Yes, it was emotional. But it was still the right thing to do.One of my favorite parts of the bath ritual was seeing Riley run through the house naked but for the hooded towel to go get his vitamin:
We spent a lot of time on that ratty couch reading books:
G'night Ra-Ra:
G'night Holden:
One last good night: